The referee’s last-minute decision to postpone Bradford City’s League Two match against Notts County yesterday afternoon has been defended by the team’s manager, Graham Alexander.
In the span of a week, the Bantams have witnessed the weather cancel two consecutive fixtures. The match was called off by the referee last weekend, which caused The Bluebirds to publicly criticise the decision. As a result, the trip to Barrow garnered significant media attention.
Before the match, everything seemed to be going well for Notts County, who were supposed to visit Valley Parade. However, yesterday morning, Bradford announced on social media that there would be no pitch inspection. But afterwards, footage of the pitch in a terrible condition appeared, sparking rumours that the game might be in jeopardy.
Only 75 minutes before kickoff, the inevitable was confirmed, despite Bradford’s heroic efforts to force a tie. The decision caused controversy, particularly since a lot of people had already made the trip to the stadium. Graham Alexander, the manager, has stood up for the referee, saying that waiting until the very last minute to make the call was the right decision:
“The ref didn’t want to make the call if there was an outside chance of getting it on,” the 52-year-old told The Telegraph & Argus.
“He did deliberate for a long time and tried his hardest to get the game on.
“It’s getting to that stage of the season. There were a couple of other games called off elsewhere, ours at Barrow last week was called off and there’s only a certain amount of weeks when we can fit them in.
“I think there’s a bit of pressure on the officials from everybody to give every fixture the opportunity to be on because the weeks are running out.
“But it got to the stage where we had to make a decision quickly because of the supporters.
“They were bringing a large number and obviously we have a large number at home games. He couldn’t hold on any longer.”
There will be a hope that the pitch can recover in time for Tuesday night, when the Bantams are scheduled to host Doncaster Rovers.
Author’s Perspective
Everyone concerned was in a situation where they would be damned if they did or not. They would have come under fire for needlessly delaying the match if they had called the game early and the weather held off. Regretfully, waiting put them in an unfortunate situation where the decision was made for them by the relentless rain.
There is ample documentation regarding the condition of the pitch at Valley Parade, and Bradford deserves praise for their endeavours. They are limited in how many more postponements they can afford to make because there are only two months left in the season.
